When Shea Weber was playing at the World Cup of Hockey, Team Canada coach Mike Babcock called him a “Man Mountain.” Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin used the same nickname to describe Weber when he met with the media Monday morning in Brossard.

But in the Canadiens locker room, Weber has earned a different nickname: “Dad.” Andrew Shaw was the first teammate to call the 31-year-old defenceman “Dad” but the name has stuck.

“There’s a lot of guys that call me that, actually,” Weber said.

“I don’t think I’m that old yet … although I am a Dad,” the father of two young children added while flashing a rare smile during an interview. “I don’t really pay attention to (the nickname) … I shouldn’t say I don’t pay attention to it because, obviously, I hear it a lot. But I don’t take it any specific way. It’s another nickname, I guess.”

After Monday’s practice, “Dad” — or “Mountain Man” — and his teammates headed for Nashville, where they will play the Predators Tuesday night (8 p.m., SNE, RDS, TSN Radio 690). It will be an emotional night for Weber, who spent 11 seasons in Nashville before last summer’s blockbuster trade that brought him to Montreal in exchange for P.K. Subban.

Subban won’t be in the Predators lineup because of an upper-body injury that has already sidelined him for seven games and has been reported to be a herniated disc in his back that could require surgery. The Predators placed Subban on the injured-reserve list Sunday and said his status will be re-evaluated in two to three weeks.

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The Predators will honour Weber during Tuesday’s game and when asked what kind of emotions he’s feeling about the homecoming the 6-foot-4, 232-pounder said: “I don’t really know, to be honest, until we get there and I’ll be able to tell you better.

“Once we get there, as long as I’m not a zombie going through the motions I should be able to tell you a little bit more about how I feel.”

In the Canadiens’ locker room, Weber has felt like a father figure, bringing instant respect along with a sense of calm both on and off the ice. His personality is the total opposite of Subban, who never met a camera he didn’t like. Trying to get more than a single sentence out of Weber during an interview is a challenge. Weber’s adjustment to living in Montreal’s hockey fish bowl hasn’t been easy, either.

“I just do my thing,” he said. “I just try and play hockey, that’s what I’m here for. Try and help this team win and don’t pay attention to stuff outside of hockey. Obviously, it’s pretty neat, pretty special to go out here, though, and people recognize you everywhere you go. It’s a very passionate spot. But outside of what we do in here and what we’re trying to accomplish, I don’t try and pay attention to stuff outside of that.”

On the ice, Weber has posted 9-12-21 totals in 37 games, along with a plus-16. But his offensive production has fallen off after posting 8-9-17 totals in his first 20 games and he is even in plus/minus over the last 17 games. Weber is averaging 26:02 of ice time per game, which ranks eighth in the NHL.

“Everything that was said about Shea, it’s everything that’s happening now,” Bergevin said. “He’s 25-minutes-plus every night against the other team’s top players. Solid defensively … shutdown defenceman.”

Weber has only one goal in the last 17 games and eight of his nine goals have come on the power play. Bergevin said Eastern Conference teams got caught “off-guard a bit” by Weber on the power play early in the season but are now focusing on shutting him down, forcing the Canadiens to look for other options.

“As you saw against Boston when Brad Marchand lost his stick, he followed Shea almost outside the blue line,” Bergevin said about a game against the Bruins last month. “So they take him away now. But overall he’s been … I’ll use Mike Babcock’s term … a Man Mountain.

“He’s a quiet leader,” Bergevin added. “I think his presence is like Carey (Price), they don’t say much. But once they walk in the dressing room or once they look at you, I think the message is pretty clear. They’re all business. They walk in the room in the morning and it’s a business approach, business mentality. That’s what we see in him.”

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